With an eye on the food allergy community as a unique group of consumers since 2008, we're on a quest to find and share ways to continue enjoying the good things in life.


24 August 2009

The Woman Behind Pamela's Products

In June, I had the good fortune to speak with Pamela, founder of Pamela’s Products. She spent quite a bit of time talking to me, answering all my questions about the company and her evident commitment to making a quality wheat free, gluten free product. Her story is an interesting one--Pamela grew up in the food industry. Her grandparents owned a natural foods company which is still in existence today, and because of this family connection, Pamela has a wonderful and fascinating perspective on health food and the development of the natural food "industry" over the last 30 years or so. As a young woman, Pamela began to make wheat-free. gluten-free cookies. She wanted those who depend on wheat-free, gluten-free products to enjoy tasty treats, just as everyone else does, and that is what she set out to do starting in 1988.

Fast forward 21 years, and Pamela’s Products is still going strong. Headquartered in California, you can find Pamela’s as far away New Zealand and Hong Kong. Pamela’s began with 4 flavors of cookies--peanut butter, oatmeal raisin, oatmeal date, and coconut--and pancake mix. Today, the same pancake mix along with the chunky chocolate chip cookies are the most popular items made by Pamela’s. New products continue to come out of Pamela’s kitchen too--soon you will spot Pamela’s new ready to eat line of cakes and cheesecakes. The cheesecakes are available in 3” mini and 6” sizes and there are also chocolate cakes and coffee cakes in 6” and 9” sizes. No cooking necessary--doesn’t that sound great?!

You can spot Pamela’s at most supermarkets these days. There are a number of products including cookies, biscotti and baking mixes. All are wheat-free and gluten-free and some are also dairy-free. I love reading the allergen information because it is clearly spelled out on her website: “Pamela's gluten-free cookies and mixes are produced on 100% dedicated gluten-free machinery. Pamela's Products have been formulated and produced to be wheat-free and gluten-free. Our products are produced in a facility which also makes products containing: peanuts, tree nuts, dairy, eggs and soy.”

With great tasting treats and a CEO who clearly “gets” what it is like to live on a restricted diet--having grown up in a family business focused on food for those on restricted diets--Pamela’s Products is truly a leader in the allergen-free, gluten-free food marketplace and it is easy to see why. Thank you, Pamela, for taking the time to speak with me and for the great products you make available to us!


3 comments:

Lynn said...

I so wish we could eat Pamela's Products, but we avoid them because we have nut allergies (as well as egg and dairy, but the nut is the one that worries me the most about cross contamination). I hate avoiding companies when they are honest and practice excellent labeling so I know about the same facility issue. It would be wonderful if they could batch test for nuts, but I guess that is costly.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for this profile! I've been checking Pamela's site and have found a lot I could use.

Keep up the excellent work!

Anonymous said...

I have a son that was on GFCF diet and tried Pamela's products. Very pleased with them. Now he just needs to be on dairy free products.